Blue Angel
by malcolm lake
Summary: In an AU where Kendra didn't die in season 2, post chosen, Xander meets a girl in a bar
1. Chapter 1

In a world where Kendra didn't die during Season 2, Xander Harris meets a girl in a bar. Post Chosen, but the potentials were never activated. I own nothing. The characters belong to Joss Whedon and the situation comes from the song, "Angel in Blue" by J. Geils Band and the movie Blue Angel. This was written in response to a XanderZone songfic challenge. This may just be a one shot, as I already have other fics going. Please review and let me know what you think of this - ml

Blue Angel

Xander Harris sighed when he looked at the location his colleague had chosen as a meeting place. There may be worse dives in Baltimore than this one, but it had to be in the top ten.

"All I wanted was to have some crab cakes, a couple of beers, and save the world," Xander grumbled. "This can't end well." He got a beer at the bar and found an empty corner table. All he wanted was to be left alone until…

"Buy a girl a drink?" a lady asked as she approached from his blind side.

Xander thought to himself, "_This is the last thing_…" then he saw her. She was young, with brown hair and eyes and a face to die for. Xander Harris had seen more attractive women up close than most Hollywood talent scouts, but this one was something special. And he had the strangest feeling, like he had met her somewhere before.

Not wanting to risk having his voice crack, he merely nodded to answer her.

"Name's Faith," she said.

He took a deep breath, "Xander,"

The girl motioned to the bartender, who sent a waitress over with a couple of overpriced cocktails. When the waitress left, she asked, "So, you looking for a good time?" she asked, leaning into him.

Xander thought, "_How could this little girl be doing this at her age? She should be in school, making something of herself_." He took a pull on his beer and said, "I'm here on business."

Faith pulled back. The look in her eyes left Xander little doubt about the kind of business that typically took place at this bar. "I don't want no trouble."

"I'm not up to anything illegal or immoral," Xander replied, trying to calm her. "My… colleague likes to meet at kind of exotic places."

"Exotic, huh? First time I heard this place called exotic. Now dirty, dangerous, and depressing, sure." She smiled, and Xander's feeling of déjà vu increased.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

Again, the wariness returned to her eyes. "Gotta be someplace. Not like I had a lot of options."

Xander tried to interrupt. "I'm sure.."

Faith's face became a sneer. "Look. I've heard all this before." She spoke more loudly "I know all the lines. I'll save you, I'll take care of you. If you want me, you'll have to pay for it like anyone else. I'm not looking for charity and I don't want a priest or a shrink."

A large, oily skinned guy with large tattoos on his arms came over to them. "This guy buggin' you?" he asked the girl before turning to Xander and reaching across the table.

Xander sighed. He really didn't have time for this. He quickly grabbed the guy's wrist and forced him to the ground.

"The lady and I were having a private conversation," Xander hissed. "I was treating her with respect and will continue to do so. Leave. Now."

Xander released the guy, who shot a glare at Faith. "Why didn't you tell me you had a soldier boy? They never have any money. And you know you got bills to pay."

Xander realized that this must be Faith's pimp. "I'll cover the lady's time," Xander said. He reached into his wallet and tossed some bills across to the table. Faith quickly pocketed the cash.

"Why don't I just get some friends and take the rest of what you got?" The guy said.

Xander was going to kill his colleague for this. He got up slowly from his chair and sighed. He reached up and removed his glass eye, placing it in his shirt pocket.

That unnerved the guy. He stared into Xander's face and saw the look that had frightened vampires and zombies. The look freaked him out.

"I got business to handle," the pimp said as he backed away, his eyes never leaving Xander's face. Once he was a safe distance away, he turned to Faith. "You're nothing but trouble. I should have never let you work for me."

Having just seen him back down, however, Faith wasn't impressed with his act anymore. "Go home, Myron."

"Myron?" Xander asked.

"He likes to call himself 'Blade,' but I heard him talk to his mom."

They shared another smile as they returned to their seats. Xander wiped off his glass eye and put it back in.

Faith stared at this guy, trying to figure him out. There was something familiar about him. Even though she was sure that they'd never met before.

Xander felt that he had to try to help. "Look, you don't know me. You got no reason to trust me. And I'm only here for a couple of days. But here's my card." He handed the paper to her. "My cell number is there. If you need anything, just want to talk, whatever; give me a call. I'll do what I can."

A thin, blonde man approached Xander. "So, made a friend, have we?"

Xander groaned. Now he shows up. "Spike, this is Faith. Faith, this is the pain in the ass who dragged me out here."

"Charmed," Spike said, sarcastically.

"Same here," Faith replied.

"Look. I don't mean to get in the way of you're acquiring some new and highly mutated venereal disease," Spike said, heedless of Faith's glare. "But we have three hours to save the world."

"Three whole hours," Xander deadpanned. "Normally, we only have one."

Faith didn't understand any of this. But she had been listened to lies and bull all her life. She could tell that these guys were serious.

"Faith," Xander said as he got up and tossed some more bills on the table. "Remember what I said."

He and Spike left the bar together. Faith, with more money than she needed for the night, almost tossed the card. But there was something about that Xander guy that made her want to know more about him. She waited for a moment; then followed them.

"Why did I ever agree to work with you again?" Xander complained to his colleague.

"Because you won't let me within a nautical mile of Buffy, the bit, Willow, or Kendra?" Spike guessed.

"Oh yeah," Xander said. "I remember, now." He had to admit, the blonde vampire was now one of his closest guy friends. How that happened, he had no idea.

"So, what's with the chit at the bar?" Spike asked.

"It was weird. The whole time I was talking to her, it was like I'd met her before."

"Teenage self-abuse sessions?" Spike asked, half seriously.

Xander thought about the question for a moment. "Let's see. Amy Yip, Buffy, Cordelia, Willow, Kendra, Ms. Calendar…." He cast an eye over to Spike, "Drusilla…" He laughed at Spike's glare. "Gotta say, no."

It was time to get down to business. "How many we got?" Xander asked

Three demons with offerings, and a caster, at least," Spike answered.

"So four," Xander said. "We should have shotguns."

Spike rolled his eyes. "Are you ever going to stop quoting Pulp Fiction?"

Xander smiled. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men…"

Spike snapped, "You do NOT get to be Samuel Jackson. You're Travolta. I'm Jackson."

Their joking stopped as they approached the cemetery. "Game time," Xander said.

Faith watched from the shadows as Xander and Spike defeated a group of demons in a Baltimore graveyard. She knew that weird things walked in the night, but she had never seen anything like this. Xander and the other guy; they were like comic book heroes.

They were walking back to the hotel when Xander's cell phone started to vibrate. He hoped that it was the girl he had met that evening. "Hey, this is Xander."

"Xander, it's Giles," came the voice from the other end.

"Oh, hi. You can relax, Spike and I stopped the troxa demons. So, no apocalypse today."

"Excellent," Giles said, though he sounded distracted. "Xander, I'm sorry, but I have some bad news. Kendra died this evening."

Xander stopped walking. Spike turned to his friend. "How did it happen?"

"She was in Boston and came across a very old vampire named Kakistos. Andrew said that she perished fighting him."

"I'll be in Boston in six hours," Xander said.

"No, you won't," Giles said, quietly but firmly. "Send Spike. Buffy will be leading a team. Our sources say that the newest potential is in the Baltimore area. You need to find her immediately."

"But Giles..."

"Xander, you know we can't use a vampire to make first contact with a Slayer. Now that she's been activated, other vampires will be aware of her. If you don't find her, she will likely perish."

"That's dirty," Xander said.

"It's true," Giles countered. "I'll have Willow work on a tracking spell and call you in the morning."

Xander briefed Spike about the situation and returned to his hotel.

Faith crept back towards her rented room. As she walked, she felt strange. It was as if she had been looking through the world through gauze her whole life. Her sight suddenly seemed clearer. She felt stronger.

She almost didn't notice Myron by her front door.

"Where's my money?" he asked.

"You'll get it tomorrow," she said, distracted.

The pimp tried to punch her, as he had countless times before. Effortlessly, Faith blocked the punch, kicked out Myron's knee, and broke his nose.

"Whoa," she said, surprised by her own strength. She gave Myron one last kick in the ribs before entering her apartment. "Something weird is definitely going on."


	2. Chapter 2

_Let's see. Hadn't completely thought this through. I rather imagined this as a one-shot. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I really appreciated the feedback. Since folks want to read more, here's how this AU differs from canon. After most of the council had been destroyed in the battle with the First Evil, the original Scoobies had regained their original closeness rather than falling apart. The First Evil was after the council and Sunnydale. It wanted to cut off the head (the Council then Buffy) before destroying the potentials. Giles and Kendra had returned for the fight from the Cleveland Hellmouth. With only themselves to rely on, old angers had been put aside. Eventually, even Angel and Cordelia had made their peace with the Sunnydale crew. In a battle that destroyed Angel, they had fought in the bowels of the earth and won, destroying Sunnydale in the process. With nothing left of their home, and LA too much a painful memory, the team had relocated to England to rebuild the Watcher's Council. Anyway, here's the next bit. Let me know what you think - _ml

Chapter 2

Faith didn't understand it. She had tried everything in her stash, and nothing was bringing her down. All she wanted to do was sleep a while; instead, she was wired, pacing in her apartment, her stomach jumpy. It was four in the morning, and she wasn't the least bit tired.

It was like something was pulling at her, forcing her to go out. She overcame her fear that Myron, her pimp, was waiting outside with some goons and left her apartment.

She opened the door just as her creepy neighbor was coming up the stairs. She had seen him around; it seemed that they kept the same hours. He was big, bald, and unnaturally muscular. He normally wore black leather.

The man almost reached his door before stopping and turning to face Faith. He was staring as if he'd never seen her before.

Faith felt a pain in her stomach as something forced the muscles in her abdomen to contract. She looked back at her neighbor and noticed that his face had deformed. He now had brow ridges and sported yellow fangs. As he walked toward her he said one word, "Slayer."

Faith ran down the stairs, the creature that had been her neighbor in full pursuit.

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Xander Harris hated early morning phone calls. The only reason he picked up the phone in his hotel room was that he knew who the caller would be.

"Dammit Willow," he grumbled. "it's still dark out."

In spite of the reason for her call, Xander's lifelong best friend couldn't stop herself from giggling, "It's daytime here."

"Willow, you're the smartest person I know," Xander said, struggling to wake up. "Please don't try to make me believe that you can't understand the concept of time zones."

"Okay," Willow said, becoming more serious. "Sorry, I just wanted to hear your voice. It's lonely in England."

"I miss you too," Xander said. "At least you have Cordie and Giles there. Spike asks me to meet him in a bar that Willie from Sunnydale would be afraid of entering. Peroxide Boy's idea of a joke, I guess."

"Any casualties?" Willow asked.

"I was good. I did the eye thing and they pretty much left me alone after that. There was this girl, though…"

"Xander," Willow sighed, "with you, there's always a girl. Was she a demon?"

"Don't think so," Xander said. "I admit that, with me, it's hard to tell, but when I looked at her I got this feeling…"

"I know all about your feelings," Willow cut in.

"No, I didn't feel tha... Well, I mean I did feel that, but there was this deja with a side of vu that keeps bugging me."

"Hellmouthy?"

"No. Just like I'd met her somewhere. But like she was out of place. And she just seemed…Lost. Like she thought that the bar was all she deserved; all she would ever know."

"You can't save everyone," Willow said, smiling as she remembered her own salvation at Kingman's Bluff. Xander had saved her. "But what I like about you is that you try. What did you do?"

"I left my card with her. It has my cell number. If she calls, I'll see about getting her into a shelter; rehab if she needs it. I mean, she looked as young as us; maybe younger. That's way too soon to give up on life."

"Okay," Willow said. "But if she follows you home, she's your responsibility. We will not have a repeat of the 'look at the cute doggie' episode."

"How was I to know that it was a shape-shifting demon?" Xander whined. "Besides, as mindless killing machines go, Spot was pretty sweet."

The redhead shouted, "He ate my laptop and my fern, pot and all! He destroyed my bed! And you call him sweet. You're hopeless." Remembering the purpose of her call, Willow shifted topics. "Anyway, I did the locator spell for the new Slayer. Do you have the necklace I gave you?"

"You know I do," Xander replied, calmly. "If I take it off, you pitch a fit. Couldn't you find something a little more…masculine?"

"It'll go to the top of my list," Willow said sarcastically. "I'll send the messenger to you via the necklace. The light will lead you to the new Slayer."

"Okay," Xander said.

"I'll have everything ready in an hour. I-I'm sorry about what happened to Kendra. I mean, I know I wasn't exactly supporto girl…"

"Willow, that's all in the past. You had no way of knowing how Drusilla's possession affected her. What I thought we had…It was all a lie. Still, we talked before she left for Cleveland with Giles. I hope she finds peace."

"Buffy will deal with that Kakistos guy," Willow said. "Is Spike on his way?"

"Yeah, he should be there now. I still don't trust him with…well, any of you," Xander said.

"Xander, as the one of the world's most powerful wiccans, I'd like to say that neither I, the Vampire Slayer, nor the Key need your help in dealing with Spike. Got it?"

"Why do I always end up with strong women," Xander moaned. "Never a nice, 'whatever you say, honey, you're the man of the house' sort of girl. Maybe this new Slayer…"

"As the Brits say, 'not bloody likely'," Willow said. "Good luck with her."

"Thanks, Will," Xander said. "Can't say I'm looking forward to this…Well, I'll get ready for the messenger. Love you."

"Loved you first," Willow said as she hung up.

"Don't be too sure of that," Xander thought. With a sigh, he grabbed a quick shower and dressed. Soon after, a blue light appeared in front of him. He knew that it would lead him to the newly activated Slayer. He hated the idea of having to explain vampires, the concept of a Slayer, and the probability of dying before twenty, to a young girl. He knew the cost Buffy had paid for her calling.

-------------

As Faith was running down the stairs, she felt tremendous confusion. Part of her was terrified of the hideously deformed man who seemed to gain on her with every step. Another part of her was screaming for her to turn and fight. That she was able to destroy this…this…Vampire.

The name resonated in her brain. She began to search her memory about all of the old horror films that she had seen as a child. Even as she continued running, she began to search for anything wooden that could be used as a stake.

Suddenly, the vampire leapt from a story above her to the bottom of the stairs. Faith opened the second floor exit and ran down the hallway. As she reached the end, she heard the door open again behind her. Not breaking stride, she jumped through the window and fell to the street below.

--------------

Xander followed the ball of light Willow had generated to lead him to the new Slayer. He tried to remember Giles' speech. "The world is far older than you realize, and unlike your mythology, it did not start as a parasite….No, that's not right. I knew I should have paid closer attention to that story."

The light, which had led him back into the area near the bar where he had met Faith earlier that night, stopped in front of a dilapidated apartment building. Xander took out a pad and wrote down the address. It still wasn't even dawn yet. He couldn't bring himself to knock on someone's door at this time of night and ruin her life.

The ball suddenly began rapidly moving along the front of the building. It stopped again at the corner. Xander looked around and saw only the side of the building and an alley. Then he heard the crash of breaking glass above him.

A young girl landed awkwardly in the alley, appearing to twist her right ankle. As Xander came forward to help, another form leapt from the building. It was a vampire.

Xander put away the pad and grabbed a stake. The vampire was clearly pursuing the brunette girl. It was the same girl he had met earlier that night! In his haste to protect her, Xander got too close to the demon, who slammed a shoulder into the young man, flattening him against the stone wall of the alley. The stake clattered away from Xander's hand.

However, the respite had allowed the young lady to recover. She saw Xander's stunned form, recognized him from earlier that night, and turned to run away. However, there was no way to get out of the alley. She looked back at Xander and noticed the stake.

The vampire was moving in to attack Faith. Acting on instinct, she kicked him with her left foot and rolled over to Xander. She picked up the stake and threw it at the vampire. It buried itself deep inside the vampire's right shoulder.

"Heart's on the left side," Xander whispered, handing her another stake.

"Thanks," Faith said, taking the stake from Xander.

The former Zeppo reached into the pockets of his jacket and drew out his dagger and a vial of Holy Water.

The vampire, weakened by the stake in its shoulder, was too slow to fight Faith. Part of her still wanted to run, but she was beginning to feel her power. Looking at the creature's horrible face, she saw all of the people who had ever hurt her. Her dad, who had got her mom hooked on drugs and then left town...all of the girls in school who teased her because of her clothes and poverty...the boys who had pawed her and treated her like a live sex toy...the teachers and social workers who had ignored her cries for help...Myron and the other guys who had made a living from her body.

Three minutes, later, Xander flung the Holy Water in Faith's face. Faith regained her senses and looked down. The vampire was a broken, bloody mess. Faith's fists were bleeding, spit was dripping down her chin and her breath was coming in gasps.

Xander locked his single eye onto the left eye of Faith. Slowly, he handed her a stake that she had dropped during the battle. "You finish him by putting the stake through his heart," he said, softly.

Shaking, she took the stake from his hands and dusted the vampire.

"I think we need to talk," Xander said.


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks for all the kind reviews. Sorry there's a delay with the updates. The stories I'm working on aren't that compatible, and trying to alternate between them isn't easy for me. Please let me know what you think about this installment_ - ml

Chapter 3

"And that's just about it," Xander said as he finished his summary of Slayer 101 for Faith. They had gone back to Faith's apartment and she had cleaned up and changed. Her injured ankle was already healed. Now, the two were sitting in a Waffle House, and Faith was going through food like only a mystical being could.

"So, what do I get paid?" Faith asked as she attacked her second plate of eggs.

"What?" Xander asked, not following her non sequitur.

"Hey, if I'm a superhero, I should be paid. I mean, I could play tennis or basketball and totally kick ass. I could make that Anna chick look like a sick loser. So why should I give up millions of dollars just to kill demons and die young?" Faith stopped talking as the waitress brought another plate of waffles and refilled her drink.

"Uh, you do know that if the world ends, that pretty much will include you?" Xander replied once the waitress had left.

"Yeah, but like you said, you already got one Slayer. From the way you explained things, the old Watchers would have killed me in a second if I didn't play with them. But you guys say things are different – all touchy feely. So I could just leave, and there's nothing you could do about it."

"Faith, trouble will find you, just like that vampire did last night. You'll need training if you want to survive."

"I hope they got somebody better than a one-eyed soldier boy to help me stay alive," Faith said. She was curious to see what Xander would do if she pushed him.

Faith was surprised when Xander laughed. "They have better guys than me, believe me. We have the Slayer, a friendly werewolf, and a vampire with a soul. And if you get too cocky, we'll just let you play with Willow."

"You expect me to be afraid of a tree? What are you going to do, spank me? That costs extra, even uptown."

"Willow is my best friend. She's a wiccan." Seeing Faith's puzzled expression, Xander clarified, "That's a witch. Somebody hurt someone she loved once. She tore his skin off and set him on fire."

Faith's jaw dropped. What kind of strange world was she getting involved in? "Was that when you lost your eye?"

Xander couldn't help turning his face to shield Faith's sight from his wound. "No, that was just a psycho preacher who wanted to hurt my friends."

"So if all your friends are so strong and you're not, why are you out saving the world, not playing pirate or something?"

Again, Xander refused to rise to the bait. After all, he had spent his teen-age years fighting and loving Cordelia Chase. He had been tested against the best. "For a long time, I thought I was useless," Xander admitted. That guy who took my eye, in a strange way, he let me understand that I had a gift."

"We talkin' short bus kind of gifted?" Faith smirked.

The humor left Xander's expression. The change made Faith back up in the booth. "You should be careful what you say to people," Xander said. "In the words of the psycho, I'm 'the one who sees.' When things are at their worst, I come up with the plan. When people are at their worst, I know what they need."

"Oh yeah," Faith blustered. "Well, I don't need anything."

"You need more than anyone I've ever met," Xander said evenly. "When you were younger, you felt powerless. Well, that's been taken care of. I can only guess about your upbringing, but some of it would be pretty familiar to me, I bet. Here you are being asked to save humanity when damn few people have shown any humanity to you."

Xander took a breath and continued. "You were probably laughed at when you were a kid because you didn't have the right clothes. You want people to accept you and to belong, but deep down you feel they're just using you. I'm pretty sure it's going to take a long time for you to trust anyone. That's going to be a problem, because even the strongest of us need help sometimes." Xander paused and looked at Faith. "So, how am I doin' so far?"

Faith was a little spooked that this guy could tell all that from only speaking to her for a half hour or so. She suddenly felt more naked than she did for most of her tricks. "Wh..Whatever. You practicing for an appearance on Oprah or something?"

"Nope," Xander said, his grin reappearing. "It's Springer or nothing. I like my psychology with breaks for violence."

Faith giggled in spite of herself. That eased the tension between them, and enabled the Slayer to finish the last of her waffles in peace. Once she was done, she looked at Xander and asked. "So, what do ya want?"

"Well, I want you to come to England for training. You'll meet the folks at the Council, learn how to use your gifts, and how to stay alive. If we can't convince you that what we do is worth your time, I guess you can walk. You won't be the first to leave the calling."

"So, have there been any, like, you know, famous Slayers?" Faith asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.

"You know, I never thought of that, but you'd think that at least some of them would have made the papers over the years. Back where I came from, we were on a hellmouth…" Seeing Faith's stare, Xander continued. "Mystical gateway between this reality and demon central. Bad times all around. Anyway, there, people just tended to blank on things like vampires and demons, even when they were attacked. You can ask Giles if any Slayers were like famous queens or something."

"Giles? That the head guy, right?"

"Yeah," Xander said. "He really likes it when you call him G-man, though."

"Oh, okay. Kind of a strange thing for a grownup to call himself."

Xander decided to end the joke quickly, "Actually, it's a nickname I gave him that he kinda hates." Seeing the girl frown at him, Xander tried to defend himself. "He would have known I asked you to do it. It would have been funny."

"Yeah, right," Faith growled.

Xander thought to himself, "The Watcher who gets this one will really be earning his salary." He put on what he hoped was a very sincere look and said. "Look, I'm sorry. It's just one of the few perks I have is giving Giles a hard time. So, will you at least come to London? We really are the good guys, and we can help you stay alive…If you decide to come back to Baltimore, we'll do what we can for you."

Faith only hesitated for a moment. "I got some stuff to pick up at my place."

"I'll go with you, if it's okay."

Faith shrugged. Xander paid the check and they stopped at a shop and bought Faith a suitcase. On route to her apartment, Xander used his cell phone to make reservations for a flight to London.

Faith's apartment was small and the walls were thin. The sound of couples enthusiastically agreeing reverberated in the room, causing Xander to turn red and Faith to shrug. Xander called London and got an update on Buffy and Spike's pursuit of Kakistos from Cordelia.

While her new council contact chatted on the phone, Faith packed her belongings. Mostly they consisted of a leather jacket, clothing that would cause Giles to polish a hole in the lenses of his glasses, and music CDs that Spike would probably steal. Xander deflected questions from Cordy about the new Slayer. He watched Faith pack and made a mental note to try to get the girl some more conservative clothes at the airport. It might make things a little better when she met the others.

Faith was soon ready to leave and Xander was wrapping up his conversation with Cordelia when the front door to Faith's apartment splintered. In rushed Faith's pimp, Myron, and several of his thug friends. Myron, who Xander had met the previous evening, had on a long duster and a held a pipe in his hands. Three of the guys had switchblades showing. They probably had other weapons as well.

Xander spoke into the phone, "Get Willow," before breaking the connection and coming to Faith's side.

"You think you could mess with me, bitch?" Faith's pimp yelled. "And what the hell are you doing here with the soldier boy? He gonna protect you now?

"I can protect myself, Myron." Faith sneered. Several of the guys laughed.

"Don't call me Myron. The name is Blade. Don't make me carve a reminder on your face."

Xander thought, "This is going to be trouble." He hoped that Willow would be able to lock on to the mystical necklace he wore. "Look, let's stay calm here," he said. "We just want to leave town. You let us go, and it all ends here."

"Your new girlfriend broke my nose," Myron shouted, the evidence plain on his face. "You're both gonna die."

"If anything, that improves your looks," Faith said. Xander groaned inwardly. He knew that the only way to end this without a human experiencing major pain was talking their way out of it, and the new Slayer had just destroyed that option.

Before he could caution her, Faith attacked the gang. She quickly downed three of the guys. Myron was thrown into a mirror on the wall. Xander moved forward and kicked a knife out of one of the guy's hands. Faith followed close behind him and took out the guys knees with a kick.

She smiled at Xander, only to panic again at the sound of a bullet being drawn into a chamber. They turned and saw Myron pointing a pistol at Faith.

Xander felt a tingling against his neck as the magical necklace activated. He grabbed Faith, twisting their bodies so that he was between Faith and Myron. A gunshot rang out, and Myron stood shocked as Xander and Faith disappeared.

Myron looked at the other guys left in the room. All had injuries from their encounter with Faith. Myron knew that he owed them big time, and it had all been for nothing. He hadn't been able to make Faith pay for what she had done to him.

He walked to the spot where Faith and the soldier boy had been, and saw a fresh bloodstain on the cheap carpet. "Well, maybe I got some payback after all," he said. "Let me buy you guys some beers."

Faith blinked and shook her head, trying to keep from fainting. She was in Xander's arms, but they'd gone from a cheap apartment in Baltimore to a stone room.

Xander looked at her with a strange smile on his face. "Have you ever had something bad happen and wonder what you would do if you had a second chance?" he whispered.

"Yeah," Faith said, not understanding.

"Well, now I know," Xander rasped as he pitched forward, falling on his face.

Faith looked down and saw that he was bleeding from a wound in his back. As she knelt by him, a cold voice behind her shouted, "What did you do to him?"

Faith turned to see a red haired girl with black eyes. The woman's arms were outstretched and sparks flew from her fingertips.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_Thanks for all the wonderful comments on this story. Since the last bit ended (some would say unfairly) with a cliffhanger, I've moved this to the front of the update list. It may be a while before the next installment. This bit is kinda dark, but it was necessary to show where Faith is at this point in her life, and how Willow is perceived by the Council holdovers. Hope it doesn't suck_ – ml

Author's note: _In this AU, Kendra was a month older than Buffy. Kendra's Watcher was the one who "failed the Council," alerting Buffy and Kendra of the Cruciamentum and losing his position as a Watcher as a result. Kendra and Buffy resigned from the Council. They agreed to work with Giles, who was still a Watcher. So the upshot is that Wesley never made it to Sunnydale_ - ml

Faith, the newly-chosen Vampire Slayer, was terrified. The air around her seemed charged with static electricity. She was beside the unconscious body of Xander Harris and in front of her stood a terrifying girl with red hair and black eyes. It seemed as if all of the light in the room was dimmed around her; as if the other girl was a magical black hole.

The redhead repeated her first words to Faith: "What did you do to Xander?"

"It wasn't me," Faith said, hurriedly. "It was Myr…" she hesitated. "It was this mugger. He pulled a gun on us and Harris…He just jumped in front of me."

Willow hesitated. "Sounds like him, the big dummy" she sighed. Willow forced herself to regain control and light returned to the room.

Xander began coughing. It sounded like he was choking. Willow rushed to his side, making sure that he wasn't in danger of swallowing his tongue. She felt for a pulse. The strong beat of Xander's heart calmed the witch. She motioned, and her oldest friend was magically lifted from the floor. Willow used her powers to guide Xander to the Council infirmary. "Follow me," she commanded Faith.

The Slayer felt suddenly lightheaded as she was pulled along behind the witch. "_This is without a doubt the scariest bitch I've ever seen in my life_," she thought.

The doctors in the infirmary visibly paled when they saw Willow enter their area with her wounded friend. Faith noticed how nervous the men seemed around the red haired witch. Their anxiety grew when they noted Xander's wound.

"He's been shot," Willow said. "His heartbeat's strong, I think he'll be okay…Right?"

"Uh-I'm sure he will be," the lead physician offered. "We need to get him into surgery…Could you let him down?"

"Oh, right. Sorry," Willow offered, letting Xander sink down onto a gurney. She sat down in the waiting area. Faith, not knowing what else to do, sat nearby. She remained silent as Willow took out her cell phone and called Buffy and Spike, Dawn, and Giles. She got an update on the search for Kakistos, the ancient vampire who had killed Kendra. Spike, apparently, was driving Buffy crazy and junior Watcher Andrew was taking the loss of his Slayer and lover hard.

As Faith sat, she became very drowsy. That was when she remembered all the drugs that she had taken the previous evening in a vain attempt to get to sleep. She tried to keep her eyes open, but the next thing she knew Willow was gently shaking her awake.

"Sorry," the witch apologized. "I should have looked after you before I called anyone. You're the new Slayer, right?"

"Yeah," Faith said, trying to clear the cobwebs. "I'm Faith."

"Good name for a Slayer," the other girl said with a smile. "I teleported you guys here to England. I'm Willow, the resident wiccan."

Faith nodded. "Harris mentioned you."

"Harris… Oh. We mostly just call him Xander," Willow said. "I got you a soda," she said as she handed Faith a drink. "Are you okay? Did the muggers hurt you? Did Xander tell you about Slayers? Are you hungry?"

"Can I pick one, or do I have to answer all of those?" Faith asked.

"Sorry," Willow said. "I'm a babbler. Whenever I'm nervous it can kind of take over."

"It's okay," Faith replied, taking a sip of her drink. "I'm fine. Har- I mean, Xander, he jumped in front of me before those guys could do anything."

Willow stared at the Slayers ripped T-shirt. "So, you were going for the well-ventilated look?"

Faith looked down and saw a knife cut that one of Myron's goons had made in her clothing. "It's…how we wear it up town." She offered Willow a weak smile. "I got the short version of the Slayer thing. As far as food; if you're offering…"

Willow noted the change of topic, but chose to ignore it for now. "We'll get you fixed up. English food isn't the greatest, but we get a few things imported from the states…As soon as we hear about Xander there's a café we can go to. I don't know what's taking the doctors so long."

"How long was I asleep?" Faith asked, looking around for a clock.

"About two hours."

Faith concentrated on the place where they had taken Xander and was surprised that she could hear the doctors speaking. "They really must be yelling in there."

"What do you mean?" Willow asked.

"Can't you hear them?"

"No. That's Slayer hearing. It's one of the perks."

"Oh, Harris didn't mention that. Cool."

Faith focused on the doctor's conversation. "I'm not going out there. I won't do it," one of the doctors said.

Faith smirked. "_I guess I'm not the only one who thinks Red here is a little intimidating_."

The voice kept talking. "This is just how it started last time. Some idiot shoots one of her friends then it's 'Hello Apocalypse.' And last time he was the one who saved the world."

"_Huh_," Faith thought. "_I guess Harris is the modest type_." He hadn't said anything about that when they had talked about the red witch.

The doctor continued his rant. "How do you think she's going to react when I tell her that her best friend is unconscious with a bullet lodged in his spinal chord and he may be paralyzed?"

Faith dropped the soda can. Harris had been paralyzed while trying to protect her. She had liked him; almost trusted him, at least as much as she could trust a guy.

Willow looked worriedly at Faith. "What did you hear?"

"It's the…You, know, the doc. He says that Xander is still unconscious and might be paralyzed."

Willow gasped and started to shake. "But I told everyone not to worry. He can't be paralyzed. Not after everything else he's had to deal with." A single tear rolled down the redhead's cheek.

"He had it rough?" Faith asked.

Willow pulled her knees to her chest as she sat in the chair, as if trying to shield herself. Slowing her breathing, she looked over at Faith. "Well, you could see the eye patch."

Faith nodded.

"Then there's the scars I gave him when I…Well, let's say I had a problem and he got in the line of fire. Literally. He had his arm broken by a vampire and his wrist smashed by a troll. His parents were, well, not exactly the best in terms of…humanity. He made it through all that only to be paralyzed by a mugger. It's just another senseless…It's like Tara."

Faith saw the wiccan's eyes turn black. "Hey, the doctor said, 'maybe.' Sounds like Xander's pretty tough. He'll pull through."

At that time, an older gentleman in tweed and a young man in his early twenties arrived and greeted Willow.

"How is Xander?" Rupert Giles asked.

"The doctor thinks that he could be paralyzed," Willow managed to say. Giles drew the girl into a hug. When they pulled apart, Willow noticed the stare Giles cast towards her brunette companion. "Faith, this is Rupert Giles, Head of the Watcher's Council, and Wesley Windham-Price; he's one of the younger Watchers."

"Sorry to meet you under such trying circumstances," Giles said as he shook her hand. "I can only imagine how difficult this is for you."

"Well, it would be easier if Xander was okay," Faith said. "He seemed pretty cool."

"The best," Willow said with a sad smile.

"Yes," Wesley said in a voice that did not sound entirely sincere. He removed a nonexistent piece of lint from his immaculate tweed coat. "In any event, Mr. Harris will be out of the fight for at least the foreseeable future. With that being the case, as the most experienced junior Watcher, I assume that I will be assigned to Miss…Excuse me, what is your last name?"

"Just call me Faith."

"I see," Wesley drawled.

"Giles, can I talk to you for a minute?" Willow asked. One of the doctors hesitantly exited the infirmary. "M-Mr. Harris…he's not" he started to say.

Willow shook her head and snarled, "I know, he's unconscious and may be paralyzed. Grow a pair already." She stomped down the hall.

"Sorry," Giles told the doctor. "She's spent too much time around Spike. We'll be back in a moment to see Xander."

Wesley approached his new charge. "So, what did Mr. Harris tell you about the responsibilities inherent in being a Slayer?"

Faith sighed. "We talked for a half hour or so then a mugger shot him. There wasn't that much time for details."

"Yes, quite. Well, the first thing we must do is find a more appropriate wardrobe for you. While I'm sure this is the height of style in America, in Britain it would attract entirely too much attention. It is imperative that the Slayer work in anonymity…As Sir Thomas Malone, a Seventeenth Century Watcher was fond of saying…"

"Well, if you want me to change clothes - that's fine." She pulled off her torn T-shirt and tossed it to the Watcher, leaving her topless.

Wesley's face turned bright red as he looked at the sensational body of the Slayer. He wasn't used to female nudity, and few women could compete with Faith's figure in any event.

Faith took one look at Wesley's flushed face and knew immediately, _"His ass is mine. He wants me, and I can use that to get anything I want."_ She almost laughed at the naked lust the young Englishman was trying oh so desperately to hide.

"I…" Wesley began. "I mean you…"

"I should get dressed again, Wes? Hey, no problem." Faith took the T-shirt from Wesley's arms, pausing to caress his bicep. She put the shirt back on and surveyed the waiting area. "Hey Wes, I'm starving. Can you get me something to eat?"

"Er, well, there's a café just down the street," Wesley replied.

"Maybe you could get me a burger, some fries…Nothing fancy."

"Yes," Wesley said, trying to keep his eyes off Faith's chest and failing miserably. "I think that's an excellent idea. A Slayer must keep her strength up." He stood waiting for Faith to move before remembering she didn't know the layout of the building. The girl just stared at him, expectantly. "Uh, just let me lead the way."

In the meanwhile, Willow and Giles were arguing. "You can't let this twit act as Faith's new Watcher."

"What choice do I have?" Giles asked, tired of this old argument. "I was hoping to entice Xander to assist with the new Slayer. Given his condition and the status of the others, there simply isn't a more qualified Watcher than Wesley."

"Xander's going to hate this idea," Willow predicted.

"Well then he can bloody well recover and take over for him. It's what I'd prefer in any event."

Willow, shocked by the older man's tone, was forced to relent. It reminded her of the arguments she had with the Watcher in Sunnydale over her increasing use of magic. Having been proven spectacularly wrong made subsequent disagreements more distasteful.

Giles and Willow returned to the infirmary and noticed that Faith and Wesley had left. Willow found Xander's room and tried to ignore the anxious stares of the doctors. She had faced those stares ever since she came to England. They knew her history. She had been weighed in the balance and found wanting. She heard the whispers, noted the way people shrank from her. If it weren't for the former Scoobies, especially Xander, it would have driven her crazy.

Fortunately, Dawn and Cordelia soon joined her at Xander's bedside. That made the waiting a little easier. Cordelia railed at how stupid Xander must be to let himself get into yet another life-threatening situation, but Willow knew that the bluster was just to hide her anxiety.

Dawn's worry showed in different ways. She fidgeted, uneasy. Every few minutes, Dawn would erupt in a burst of energy and either go looking for snacks or grab a medical reference to check things on her oldest guy friend's chart.

For Willow, the waiting had to be done in silence, using meditation to keep her from going over the edge. Her concentration was so intense that Cordelia had to tap her on the shoulder when she wanted the redhead's attention.

"Dawn wants to get some pastries at the café," Cordelia said. "Do you want anything?"

"I need chocolate in the worst way humanly possible," Willow said. "Maybe we should get something for Xander, too. I can't imagine what he'd say if he woke up and we had cakes and he didn't."

"Yeah, he would whine," Cordelia said, gently mocking her former boyfriend.

"I know what he'd do," Dawn supplied with a sad smile. "He would take one look at the three of us gathered around his bed and say…"

"Good morning Angels," Xander rasped.

"Exactly," Dawn agreed before realizing Xander was indeed awake.

Xander saw the three beautiful young women about to jump on him (as he had expected, and frankly was looking forward to) only to stop their forward motion. It was almost like they were afraid of hurting him if they touched him. Suddenly he became very afraid. "What happened to me?" He asked.

"You got shot by a mugger," Willow supplied. "At least that's what Faith said."

"Mugger?" Xander asked. "I don't…Oh …Okay…So why are you guys looking at me like I'm fragile?" He finally looked down and saw that he was strapped in the bed. "This isn't good, is it?"

"The doctors couldn't extract the bullet," Willow said. They think it's pressing on your spinal chord, and so you're kinda…You can't…"

"You're paralyzed," Cordelia supplied. "But it may only be a temporary thing. If we can get a doctor here who knows enough to use the sharp end of the scalpel, you could be getting in the way in no time flat."

"That's my Cordie," Xander said, forcing a smile.

"So, where is Faith," Xander asked. "You showing her around, Willow?"

Willow blushed. "I may have freaked her out a little when I zapped you over. I saw you wounded and bleeding and I thought she may have been the cause of it."

"Tell me you left her in one piece," Dawn pleaded.

"There was no tearing into pieces. Once she explained everything, I just took care of Xander. I guess she's with her new Watcher now."

Xander looked puzzled. "I didn't know Giles was thinking of going back into the field."

"He's not, Willow said.

"Oh God, don't tell me," Cordelia shrieked.

"It can't be," Dawn shouted.

"Not Wussley," Xander groaned. It was almost impossible for him to imagine a worse match for the headstrong girl than the uptight Englishman.

"Afraid so," Willow said.

The doctor arrived and discussed Xander's diagnosis with the group. A specialist would be brought in. She had already looked at the X-rays and agreed that the prognosis for a recovery of at least some use of his legs was promising. With that, Xander said he was tired and the group left so he could sleep.

An hour or so later, Faith and Wesley visited Xander.

"How ya doin' Boss?" Faith asked.

Xander managed a smile. "I'm okay. I was too slow."

"You saved my ass," Faith said, softly.

"It was worth saving," Xander replied.

"I think so," Faith agreed.

Xander turned his head and looked at the Englishman. "Wes, I hear that you've been assigned to be Faith's Watcher."

"Yes, Mr. Giles agreed that I was the most qualified," Wesley said as Xander suppressed the desire to moan.

"Well, I know you'll do your best to keep her safe."

"She's a Slayer," Wesley countered. "I will make sure that she remains true to her calling."

"Uh, right," Xander said, unable to keep his eyes from rolling. "Can I have a quick word with Faith?" Xander asked.

"Certainly," Wesley said. "We were just dropping by before patrol. I shall visit the quartermaster's office to obtain supplies."

"Patrol?" Xander asked. "She just found out that she was a Slayer this morning. Have you even slept since yesterday?" He asked Faith.

"I got a quick nap. I'm five by five."

"Wesley, she needs rest and training. She isn't ready."

"I am well aware of the protectiveness you feel towards the members of your team," Wesley said, as if lecturing a small child. "Please do me the courtesy of understanding that while I am concerned about Faith's safety, I have an obligation to the Watcher's Council not to coddle her."

Faith watched the confrontation between the two men uncomfortably. She didn't like Wesley's attitude, but she was equally uncomfortable with Xander telling her Watcher that she wasn't able to do things other Slayers had done.

"She's not ready," Xander repeated.

"I am her Watcher, and I will decide what she will do," Wesley said.

All of the humor left Xander's face. He looked at Faith, then at Wesley and said, "If you take her on patrol and anything happens to her. I'll kill you myself."

Wesley couldn't help but laugh at the threat from the paralyzed American.

Xander's stare became truly frightening. "I will find a way, Wesley. Count on it."

Wesley paled somewhat, before regaining his composure. "I will be back in five minutes. Xander, I will take your recommendations under advisement."

Neither Xander nor Faith spoke for a while after Wesley left. Finally, Xander said, "I'm sorry, Wesley gets on my last nerve. Now what's this I hear about being shot by a mugger?"

Faith couldn't meet his gaze. "I just didn't want Red lookin' at me like I was a tramp, ya know? You gonna rat me out?"

Xander sighed. "I won't say anything if you promise to tell Wesley. You can't have secrets from your Watcher. That's one thing I learned in Sunnydale. Say what you want to everyone else."

"Wes doesn't like you much," Faith noted.

"Well, it's mutual. We're just a little too different to get along. He's ambitious; I'll say that for him. He wants to score points with Giles by reporting that he had success on his first day as a Watcher. He doesn't understand that's not how G-man keeps score…." Xander paused, trying to get comfortable in his hospital bed. "Look, just promise me that you'll check in with Giles before you go out tonight. He'll either tell Wes to cool it or make sure you patrol in an area where we have some controls in place. If you'll do that, I'll keep quiet about everything in Baltimore and play nice with Wesley."

"Deal," Faith said.

"So, what are we going to say you did in Baltimore? Waitress?"

"That works. I can spill coffee with the best of them. Well, I better be going. Wes will be waiting."

"Talk to Giles," Xander said.

"Yeah," Faith answered.

Wesley was waiting outside the door for her. "I have the supplies," Wesly said, showing her a collection of stakes, holy water, and a short sword."

"Yeah, about the patrol…" Faith started.

Wesley interrupted, "Yes, I can't believe how much of a mother hen he is. Did he tell you that the current Slayer, Buffy, was patrolling at the age of 15?"

"No, he didn't say that," Faith muttered. She walked up to the nurse on duty. "Xander is in a lot of pain and is trying to sleep. Can you give him something to help him rest?"

The nurse nodded and moved to a large, locked cabinet. She opened it, took out some painkillers, and closed it again. Faith noticed that the nurse didn't take the key as she took the medication to her patient. The novice Slayer walked a few steps with Wesley and said that she had forgotten something and would be right back. While the Watcher waited down the hall, Faith liberated some medicine and soon rejoined Wesley.

"I think I want the sword," Faith said as they left the building.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 

_Thanks for all the wonderful comments on this story. Sorry it's been a while. Things got in the way— life, etc. Anyway, will try to update more often. Hope the new bit doesn't suck_ – ml

The nurse walked into Xander Harris' room and prepared the shot. "What's this?" Xander asked.

"The new American girl said that you were feeling some discomfort," the nurse replied as she grabbed Xander's limp arm.

"What do you mean? I can't FEEL anything, that's the problem with this whole paralysis thing."

"Uh huh," the nurse said, not really listening as she gave Xander the shot.

"No," Xander tried to stop her, "It was Faith; she doesn't want me talking to Giles."

"Well, you're not going to be talking to anyone for the next eight to ten hours, I'd imagine," the nurse said to herself as she exited the room and closed the door.

------------

Faith and Wesley walked through the cool English countryside as they patrolled near the Watchers' Council castle.

"You guys like to build with stone," Faith muttered as she looked back on the structure trying to shake off her fatigue. Her brief nap in the afternoon had done little to revive her.

"This castle had resisted invasions long before North America was on a map," Wesley said as he too looked back. "That's what it's like to be part of the tradition that is the Watchers' Council. It's what Xander and the others have such a hard time understanding. We're simply links in a great chain stretching back untold millennia."

"I'm more than a link," Faith said hurriedly.

"Why are you Americans always like that," Wesley asked seriously. "You are part of a noble cause; an unbroken lineage. Why isn't that enough?"

Faith looked into the eyes of the young Englishman and saw that he was serious about this. "I…I don't know," she said as she started back down the lane. "Maybe we don't have traditions like you. Maybe we just want to be remembered for ourselves."

"Well, then we best start now," Wesley said with a smile. "One of the abilities most Slayers gain fairly quickly is the ability to sense the presence of a vampire. Have you noticed anything…"

"That happened to me last night," Faith said, her smile matching that of her Watcher. "There was this guy in the apartment beside mine. I'd seen him lots of times before. But last night, after I…changed or whatever, I felt something in my gut. I knew he was bad news. It was wicked creepy. Then he tried to attack me."

"Very good. That's extremely encouraging. Buffy never really developed her ability in this regard, and Kendra only had it to a limited degree. This could prove invaluable for us. I want you to try and extend your senses. Can you feel any dark forces in the area?"

Faith continued walking, trying to remember how she had felt the previous evening when she had seen the vampire. She felt something off to her right. She reached out her left hand and took a stake from Wesley. The sword remained in her right hand. "I think I got him. Heart's on the left side, right?" Not waiting for a response, she bounded off into the night, leaving Wesley far behind.

"Wait," Wesley called out in vain to Faith's retreating form.

----------

Willow, Dawn, and Cordelia dropped by Xander's room in the infirmary after finishing dinner. As they entered, they saw Xander with his tongue stuck out, biting it. Blood was streaming down his chin.

"Xander?" Willow said to her oldest friend.

Xander looked over to them, his eyes glassy. "Thank God." His eyes blinked closed. Forcing them open again, he continued. "Wesley took Faith out on patrol. She's not ready. Tell Giles."

"Okay," Willow said hurriedly.

Xander, exhausted by his efforts to fight the tranquilizer, yielded to the drug and fell asleep. Dawn remained by his bedside and tended to his self-inflicted wound.

As Willow and Cordelia left Xander's room, Oz was just arriving. The recovering werewolf had joined the council a few months ago, finally secure in his belief that his inner demon was under control. He and the former Scoobies were still in the process of regaining their former friendship, but all of them trusted the small man and were aware of his abilities.

"Oz," Cordelia said sharply, "We need you to track Wesley? Can you do it?"

"I'm not sure," Oz said not cracking a smile, "there's a lot of tweed here. Kinda hard to get the scent."

"Oz, we need to find him," Willow said.

"Sure," the werewolf replied.

"He went out on patrol with the new Slayer," Willow supplied, leading the way to the exit.

"Okay," Oz replied as he sniffed the air. "I think they went this way," he said as he walked eastward.

----------

Faith sped through the night, intent on locating whatever had alerted her senses. As she approached a cemetery, she noticed a figure jumping over the low stone wall. "Gotcha," she said to herself, intent on closing in for the kill.

Wesley, falling ever further behind with each stride his Slayer took, noted with pride that Faith had located a vampire easily. "This will show Mr. Giles," Wesley whispered to himself, happily as he slowed to a walk. "Now all I have to do is document the kill." Faith had caught the vampire before it could enter the woods and was now using her sword to hack at the undead creature. The vampire ripped a branch from a nearby tree and was using it to evade Faith's thrusts. The newly minted Slayer grew quickly frustrated by the vampire's successful defense.

Wesley drew out a notebook so that he could go over the battle in detail with Faith later. The sword technique was sloppy. There was much he could do with her, if she had the right attitude, he thought. "Just as well," he mused. "It's always important to note areas of potential improvement." That was when he saw the second and third vampires jumping over the wall just in front of him. "Oh…Damn," Wesley muttered. The vampires were between Faith and the Watcher. Faith was focused on her battle. The newly arrived demons were intent on Wesley. He drew out a cross and stake and called out, "Faith!"

In doing so, he failed to see the vampire that had come up behind him. The demon knocked the cross from his hand. In that instant, Wesley was reluctantly grateful for the hours of sparring Xander and the others had insisted he undergo since they had arrived after the destruction of the Sunnydale Hellmouth. The Watcher effortlessly fell into a roll, ducking under the demon as it tried to grab him. He scrambled to his feet and reached into his jacket pocket for a vial of Holy Water. He threw it into the face of the nearest vampire. The liquid scalded the face of the demon, giving Wesley an opportunity to back away. He knew that he couldn't outrun the demons, but if he could stay alive for a few minutes, there was every chance that Faith would dispatch her quarry and return for him. If he was smart and lucky…

Faith had managed to knock the branch out of the demon's hands and had cut off its left arm at the elbow. As the vampire screamed in pain, it had blocked out Wesley's calls. Faith smiled as she came in for the kill. She kicked out the vampire's knee, causing it to tumble to the ground. With a feline grace, Faith tossed the sword in the air, drove her stake into the vampire with both hands, then rolled to a stop and caught the sword as it fell. As she turned around, the vampire fell into dust.

"And that's one for the new Slayer," Faith said with a smile. "So, what do you think Wesley?" She looked for her Watcher, "Wes?"

That was when she heard a scream. As she ran towards the noise, she felt the presence of other demons. It hadn't occurred to her that there could be more than one vampire in an area.

She saw Wesley lying on the ground with two demons fighting over the body. Faith had left her stake in the dusted vampire, so she only had her sword as she fought two vampires for the first time. The demons initially fell back, but watching Faith's clumsy lunges, they soon surged forward. They stayed apart, forcing the young Slayer to swing her sword in wide arcs to keep them away. They laughed as they forced her farther away from the cemetery.

Faith looked back at her fallen Watcher. He was motionless. In that instant, one of the vampires charged her. Faith took a kick to the stomach, but twisted and landed a glancing blow against the vampire's side.

The other demon jumped on the Slayer's back, forcing her to the ground. The injured vampire kicked at Faith, managing to connect with both Faith's back and the other vampire's face. Grabbing his jaw angrily, the vampire lost his grip on the American.

Faith kicked free and took a punch in the face from the vampire she had cut with the sword. The blow forced her to drop her blade, and she was weaponless and bleeding. She continued to flee the two demons.

"_I fucked up_," Faith thought as she panted for breath. "_Xander was right, I wasn't ready. I got Wesley killed, now I gonna die too_."

The vampire with the wound in its side grabbed the sword and tossed it away. Unfortunately, the sword struck the other vampire in the leg. Furious, that he had been twice wounded by his fellow demon, the vampire grabbed the sword, crept up behind the other vampire, and swung the blade in a deadly arc. He neatly decapitated the demon.

Faith tried to use the distraction to escape, but the vampire continued his pursuit. "I'm coming little one," he called.

----------

Wesley struggled to regain consciousness. He looked around, wondering where both Faith and the vampires had gone. "I don't understand what happened," he whispered to himself. He tried to stand, but fell back to the earth.

Wesley's head swam. As he tried once again to sit up, he heard a rustle in the grass behind him. It was the vampire he had splashed with Holy Water. The boiling of its flesh had ceased, and the demon's hideous face was scowling at the Watcher.

"I guess it's just the two of us now," the vampire hissed.

The last thing Wesley heard before passing out was a familiar, much detested voice, saying, "Wrong."

The Watcher never saw the bolt of lightning Willow used to kill the vampire.

----------

Faith continued running away from the vampire, wracking her brain for anything that might help her survive. She remembered the bit about vampires not being able to cross running water, so she ran down the hill and splashed across a small stream.

The vampire followed close behind. He laughed as he reached the bank, seeing Faith panting beside a tree. He saw that blood from Faith's wounds had dripped on the grass beside the stream. He touched it with his index finger, then licked his finger.

"You are strong…rich." The vampire rolled the taste around his mouth with his tongue. "You're a Slayer. A baby Slayer!" He looked at the stream. "So, you think vampire's can't cross running water. Very good. How ever shall I get to you, now?" He laughed and jumped to the far bank, just in front of Faith."

"Now what will you do?" He asked

"This!" Faith yelled as she struck his chest with the tree branch she had broken off. She watched the vampire dust and collapsed in tears.

It had taken her less than a day to ruin the one chance she had to make a better life for herself. After getting Wesley killed, she had no doubt that the Council would be after her. Even if she could evade them, there were demons to worry about. There was no way out.

As she continued sobbing, she remembered the drugs that she had taken from the Council infirmary. All she wanted was for the medicine to take her pain away, one last time.

----------

Cordelia led Wesley to the infirmary. The young Watcher was going to recover, he only had a neck laceration and a mild concussion.

It took Willow and Oz ten minutes to find Faith, get her back to the Council headquarters, and alert the doctors. Later the doctors told them that if it had taken eleven minutes they would have lost the young American.

As it was, Willow and Giles kept a vigil by Faith's bed. Willow looked over at the head of the Watchers' Council, hoping that the former librarian had words of wisdom to offer the young girl, not aware that Giles was hoping that the wiccan knew something that might help.

Neither knew what they were going to do with this young, obviously damaged girl. Nor did they want to admit that they were both thinking about what the old Councils' reaction to Faith's episode would have been, and how that might be the wisest course to take.

_Thanks for reading. Next up, dueling hospital beds. Please review_ - ml


	6. Chapter 6

_Well once again it's update time. Thanks so much to those of you who were kind enough to read and review. For this bit, it would probably be a good idea to read another of my stories, "The Sisters," because the characters in that story play a role in this installment. Thanks to Derek the Rogue for suggesting they show up in other stories. That story is rather short and only one chapter, so I hope it won't be too much of an inconvenience to look it up. Some folks seemed to like it. Reviews are deeply appreciated – ml_

Ch 6

Willow was asleep by Faith's bed when she woke up. The new Slayer, experienced with waking up in potentially dangerous situations, carefully avoided moving and scanning the area with her eyes half closed while she got her bearings. The past day was a blur to her: meeting Xander Harris, her new Slayer powers, escaping her pimp, her initial encounter with the redhead currently curled up in the chair, and her ill-fated initial patrol with her new Watcher. She wondered if she would be held responsible for Wesley Windham Price's death.

Frankly, she was more than a little surprised to be waking up at all.

"You should be," Willow said, opening her eyes and stretching.

"What…" Faith started. "How did you…"

"There's a spell that kind of helps me read minds," Willow said, "I used it so I would know when you woke up. Didn't want you sneaking out. It also comes in handy when I play cards. I'll abate it now."

"You are a scary bitch," Faith whispered.

"Tell me something I don't know," Willow replied sadly as she tried to loosen the kinks in her back. "We found Wesley and you in time. You'll both be okay."

Faith was visibly relieved. "Look, I didn't know there would be more than one…"

"Faith," Willow said, raising her palm to indicate the Slayer could stop her explanation. "Wesley explained what happened…" Faith settled back in her bed. "We also know what you did to Xander."

That made the brunette tense again.

Willow's face broke into an understanding smile. "I know what it's like to be put into a strange environment and want to…impress… When I had my, incident…"

"When you set a guy on fire and gave Harris those scars," Faith supplied.

"Well, yeah," Willow admitted with a pained expression. "Anyway, afterwards, Giles sent me to a coven. I was around the most powerful witches on the planet. I had broken every code they believed in. The first few days I was so ashamed I didn't know how to face them. Eventually, I realized the only person I had to worry about facing was the one I saw in the mirror."

"How long did that take?" Faith asked.

"Seven months, two weeks, three days. More or less."

"How long till you could deal with the face in the mirror?"

"Still working on it," Willow admitted.

"Not exactly encouraging there, Red."

"It wasn't meant to be. How are you feeling?"

"Five by five," Faith answered.

"Meaning?"

"I'll get by. So, how much trouble am I in?"

"All there is," Willow answered. "We're fighting to preserve existence. That never goes away. But as far as last night, that's over. You have some work to do before you're ready to patrol. I don't know how Slayers deal with addiction, at least the chemical kind, so we don't know if you'll feel any withdrawal from whatever you've been taking."

Faith knew there was no way to avoid the truth now. "Nothing much, just some grass. I was into heroin for a while, but that shit was too expensive to use that often. There was other stuff, when I could afford it, pills mostly."

"How did you earn the money," Willow asked, staring into Faith's eyes.

Faith turned away from Willow and stared at the wall. "You know how, so why ask."

Willow nodded. "Anything else we should know about."

"You were in my head last night, you tell me," Faith said, still looking away.

Willow sighed. She actually had gotten more from Faith than she had anticipated. Maybe she really did have the potential to work through her issues. "Well, as comfortable as this chair is, I'm missing my bed. Will you be here when I come back later?"

"Didn't know I had much choice," Faith answered turning back to face the wiccan.

"You're a Slayer. There aren't a lot of things that can stop you if you put your mind to it."

Faith almost smiled at that thought.

Willow couldn't resist adding, "Of course, I'm one of the things that could. Stay here, get better, and don't make me hunt you down, okay?" She patted Faith on the knee to let her know that at least part of that was a joke.

"Okay, Red."

Giles entered the room, and Faith immediately became guarded.

"Hello, Faith," the Head of the Watcher's Council said.

"Hey. Red here was doing the 'good cop' routine. You gonna yell at me?"

Giles looked at Willow before turning back to Faith and removing his glasses. "No, I merely dropped by to see how you were feeling."

"Oh," Faith replied, a little embarrassed. "I'm okay. Harris told me Slayers heal fast."

"Excellent. I hope that soon we can commence your training."

Faith's wariness increased. "What's the deal? I was expecting one of you to put me in irons or whatever you English guys do."

"Sorry to disappoint you," Giles said, sarcastically as he put the glasses back on. Would Americans ever stop stereotyping him? "You'll find that most of us in this battle have had moments that we regret."

"Do tell, Ripper?" Willow snarked.

"Be that as it may," Giles continued, ignoring the interruption, "We will expect you to train diligently and to learn from your mistakes, but none of us are in a position to judge you. Once you are ready, we shall have you continue to work with Wesley and Xander."

"But Xander is…" Willow started.

Giles looked distinctly uncomfortable. "I received a message today from…well, from someone who has expressed an interest in helping Xander recover. She…they… will be arriving shortly."

"You got a specialist in spinal disorders?"

"Not exactly," Giles said.

Willow asked, puzzled by the strange way Giles was characterizing the person (people?) he was talking about. As she looked at her mentor's face, she realized, "_Giles is scared to death of whatever it is that's coming_."

----------

Willow and Giles met Oz on the way to Xander's room. The recovering werewolf had spent the morning on Wesley watch.

"How's Faith?" Oz asked.

"She's scared," Willow said. "I hope she'll make it, but it's not going to be easy."

"Never is," Oz observed.

"Wesley discharged?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, he said he would check on Faith later. I think he knows he rushed things with her."

"Understatement," Willow said sarcastically. "Giles and I are going to see Xander. Somebody is coming to help him."

"Doctor-type body?" Oz asked.

Willow looked over at Giles, "I'm thinking a magic-type body with a side order of scary."

"I'll be sleeping, Wesley snores," Oz said as he cleared out. Werewolves were generally skittish around magical beings. Especially ones that Giles or Willow would consider "scary."

As her former boyfriend began to walk away, Willow remembered something and called out, "Did you tell Wesley that we're kind of keeping what happened last night a secret from Xander?"

"Didn't come up," Oz said over his shoulder.

Cordelia and Dawn were visiting Xander. Willow walked in to see the two brunette girls in deep discussion about the perfect boot. "That proves Xander's paralyzed," Willow thought to herself. "It's the only way he'd sit still while those two were in shopping mode."

Xander caught her eye as she entered and gave her a "_Please save me_," look.

"Hi guys." Willow called. She turned to Dawn and Cordelia and said, "Why don't you guys grab some lunch, we'll keep the slacker company for a while."

"You want me to show you the place that has the boots?" Cordelia asked the younger Summers.

"Sounds like a plan," Dawn agreed. "Or at least a P-L." Both girls kissed Xander on the cheek and went of in search of footwear nirvana.

"How are you today, Xander?" Giles asked.

"Not up for a jog today, G-man, maybe tomorrow."

"Yes, well…uhm…"

Xander noted the look on his mentor's face. "What's the what, Giles? Spill already."

"Xander, do the names Verity and Bella mean anything to you?" Giles managed.

"You talked to them?" Xander asked. Giles nodded. "They're coming, aren't they?" Willow noted that the look on his face was surprise, not dread or fear. "I didn't think they got out that much anymore."

"So who are they?" Willow asked, "How do you know them, and why have I never heard you mention them before?"

"Would you believe me if I told you that they were two ladies who lived near my grandmother's house in North Carolina?"

"No," Giles admitted. "You speak of…them as if they were old friends."

"Well I met them for the first time when I was five. That's almost as long as I've known Willow."

"Known who?" Willow asked, tired of being left out of the conversation.

"It's kind of hard for me to explain," Xander admitted. "You want to try, G-man?"

The Head of the Watcher's Council turned to Willow. "Have you read Keats' poem, 'Ode to a Grecian Urn?"

"Sure, in college," Willow answered.

"Do you recall the ending, ''Beauty is truth, truth beauty, - that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know?'"

"We always liked Johnny," A voice came from behind them.

Ever after, the stories of the three inhabitants of the room diverged at this point. Xander saw two young ladies, the images of his friends Willow and Tara. Giles saw two more mature ladies, one who looked like Jenny Calendar, the other a slightly older version of Joyce Summers. Willow saw someone who looked like Tara and another person who resembled an older Xander.

"Hi girls," Xander said, blushing in spite of himself.

"Girls?" Willow asked. She felt the power radiating from the visitors.

"Don't let it bother you," the one who looked like Xander said to her. "Appearances can be deceptive." "And you," the figure said, talking to Xander, "what are we ever going to do with you? We turn our back for a few moments and you let this happen." It carried a pink lawn flamingo and placed it by the bed.

"Sorry," Xander replied. "Forgot to duck. Let me guess, Bella?"

"Right in one," Bella said with a smile as she sat on the bed beside him.

Xander performed the introductions, "Truth and Beauty, meet Giles and Willow. Giles is the one with the glasses."

"A pleasure," the redhead on Xander's bed said before kissing him. "I'm glad you recognized me," she whispered in his ear.

"Well, he did have a 50/50 chance," Verity noted. Verity turned to Giles and the (to him) brunette lady asked, "You understand why we are here?"

"Not entirely," Giles admitted. "When you phoned earlier (and how Verity had his phone number the Watcher had no idea), you mentioned that Xander will be vital in an upcoming battle and you mentioned the rider of the red horse. I assume you are referring to War as described in the Biblical book of Revelations."

"Xander's going to fight War?" Willow asked.

"Not exactly," Verity answered. "But much as we are personifications of an ideal, so is the coming threat a manifestation of destruction and wrath. Without the heart of your group, without Xander," Verity turned to Xander and smiled warmly, "you could not succeed. With him, there's a chance."

The image of Tara approached Xander and kissed him. Then she said, "Get up lazy."

Tentatively, Xander tried to move his arm. The formerly immobile limb responded. He leaned up in bed and said, "You guys do good work."

"But there was no spell or anything," Willow said, surprised.

"We really don't like to show off," Bella said, to which Xander guffawed. "Okay, sometimes we don't like to show off," she amended.

Verity sat back on the bed and cradled the young man in her arms. "When this is over, if you win, I think you will need to visit us," she whispered to Xander. "You'll be welcome, and anyone you bring will be, too."

At this point one of the doctors responsible for Xander's care entered the room. He shouted, "Who is that old lady and why is she holding up a paralyzed man? Do you know the damage she could do to him?"

"Fire him, Rupert," Bella said. "He really doesn't care about anything."

"Who said that?" The doctor asked.

"See," Bella noted.

The doctor continued to look for the source of the (to him) disembodied voice. When he saw Xander sit up in bed, the medic fled the room.

Verity got up from the bed and walked over to Willow. Tara's voice said, "It was nice to meet you. I hope we meet again."

"You're leaving?" Willow asked, disappointed that the image of her lover was leaving.

"It's too cold here," Bella said. "We're really beach people. We have one stop to make before we go."

Truth and Beauty left Xander's room and walked to where Faith was sleeping. "She doesn't know either of us," Verity said, sadly.

"But she might, one day," Bella countered.

They both kissed the girl on the cheek and vanished.

----------

It was later in the morning when Wesley visited Faith. He took a deep breath before entering, and Faith broke eye contact as soon as she saw his face.

"I'm sorry," both said at once and exchanged confused glances.

Wesley recovered first. "It was my fault, Faith. I rushed you. I should have taken the time to establish procedures, make sure that you understand the dangers you'd be facing. I'm sorry."

"Hey, it was my fault," Faith argued. "I should have told you that Harris made me promise to talk to Giles before we went out."

Wesley couldn't help a small smirk from breaking out. "I have to admit I don't think hearing Xander's opinion would have changed my plans last night. I failed to take into account your…enthusiasm. Still, to have slain three vampires on your first patrol is very impressive."

"I don't know about that," Faith replied, thinking back to leaving Wesley unprotected and how the evening ended. "Besides, it was only two."

"No, I think you're mistaken," Wesley said gently. "I saw you fighting the original vampire, then there was one that Willow, destroyed. No doubt I will be hearing about that for the next decade," he mumbled as an aside. Of course, Faith's Slayer hearing picked up his muttering. "That leaves two other vampires that you…"

"One," Faith corrected. "One vamp accidentally stabbed the other one, then that guy got mad and cut the first one's head off."

"They fought each other?" Wesley asked.

"Yeah. In fact, they were fighting over you when I got there, then they started again later," Faith said.

"Really," Wesley said. "That is most unusual. Vampires almost never fight each other over a kill. My former instructor at the Academy had a theory that it was part of the disgust their demon personas have for their former human lives. Unless they are starving, they would rather see humans die and go hungry than take the chance on one getting away. Come to think of it, I have seen several reports of altercations in the vicinity of the cemetery. I always just assumed they were football hooligans or Scotsmen. I shall have to discuss this with Rupert."

"So, you okay?" Faith asked.

"Oh yes, only my pride damaged," Wesley said ruefully. "How about you?"

"Five by five," Faith replied out of habit. Seeing her Watcher's confused expression, she added, "I'm cool."

"Oz tells me you were a little the worse for wear when they found you," Wesley said, careful to avoid sounding judgmental.

Faith took a deep breath. "Look. I promised Har-, I mean Xander, that I'd tell you what the deal was. I was a working girl in Baltimore. I had a pimp who kept me high most of the time. When I found out I got all Xena, I agreed to work with you guys for a while so I could learn to take care of myself. I want to get clean and I…I guess I want to help. You guys have been pretty cool. But I didn't want nobody looking down their noses at me. So Xander said he'd tell the others I was a waitress, long as I was straight with you."

Wesley began to understand the situation, "So last night when you…"

"When I thought I'd gotten you killed, it just all came back on me. I'd had a chance and blown it, just like everything else in my life. Now everyone will know…"

"Your life before will make things more difficult for you," Wesley conceded. "I can see why you might have issues with trust, authority…"

"You name it, I'm gonna have issues with it," Faith sighed.

"But I hope that, in time, we can earn your trust. We'll give you the time you need. And the next time you patrol, we'll both know what to look out for." He smiled encouragingly at Faith.

"Well, you and Giles seem to have more faith in me than I do."

"That's our job," Wesley said quietly. Something Faith said struck him. "You say Xander made you promise to tell your Watcher about your past? Even after he knew that you were assigned to me?"

"Yeah, he said that I can't have any secrets from my Watcher. It was when I talked to him after his surgery."

"Interesting," Wesley said. "I suppose I should go and speak with him as well. Best to get all of the apologies out of the way at one time."

----------

Dawn and Cordelia had just finished shopping and they went to the nearby café to fight off the morning chill. Seeing the preoccupied look on Cordelia's face, Dawn said, "You know, you should just go ahead and tell Willow that you and Oz are dating."

Cordelia choked on the coffee she was drinking, spitting part of it against the wall. "Wh… I mean, how did you know?" She picked up some napkins and tried to clean up the mess she had made.

"Please, I was taught silence by Buffy and Kendra; basic sleuthing by Willow before she became all magic junkie, and how to see things by Xander. Do you really think there's much that goes on around here that I don't know about?" Dawn said as she handed Cordelia another napkin.

"Sometimes I kind of hate you," Cordelia said with a smile.

"Same here," the Key said. "So, why the sparkage with Wolfie?"

"He's nice. He never interrupts me when I'm talking. Besides, it's not like there's a lot of choices," Cordelia replied. "I mean, Xander and I are friends now, but there's too much history. Giles is too old, and Wesley….ugh."

"I don't know," I think maybe all he needs is time and some scars," Dawn suggested.

"Oh really," Cordelia said, looking at the teen. "I thought you were still deep in Xander worship mode."

"If Wesley hasn't had enough experience yet," Dawn said with a sigh, "I think Xander's had too much. After Kendra and Anya, I really don't think we could ever work."

"Yeah, our boy's made some strange choices. Hell, in high school, he chose Willow over me. How stupid is that."

Dawn dutifully agreed with her friend. She and Willow had never regained the closeness they had after Buffy's second death. After Willow's abuse of magic and attempt to use Dawn as a power source, the younger Summers' had never been able to completely forgive the redhead.

"Well, speaking of Xander, we better be getting back. Maybe we should bring him a hot chocolate?" Cordelia suggested.

----------

Giles had insisted that Xander remain in the infirmary until he had recovered from the blood loss caused by the gunshot wound. The younger man, tired after Bella and Verity left, had fallen into a dreamless sleep. He awoke to hear Wesley Windham Price's voice.

"Xander, are you awake?"

"I am now, Wes," Xander replied, noting the bruises on Wesley's face.

"Oh, terribly sorry." Wesley knew he had to get this out of the way quickly. Apologizing didn't come easily to him. "I just wanted to say that I appreciate what you told to Faith about the importance of being completely honest with me."

"It's the truth, Wes," Xander said. "If you don't know what she's been through, you won't be able to help her."

"It was very decent of you to tell her that. And I want to apologize for not listening to you more closely about the need to take it slowly with Faith. What happened last night was my fault completely."

"What happened…" Xander started.

"I should have told her that vampires sometimes travel in groups. Once she recovers…"

"Recovers?" Xander interrupted, his eye widening into a look that made all those who knew him well want to leave the room.

Wesley didn't notice the look.

"I don't know what kind of rehabilitation she will require, but she's a strong girl," Wesley continued.

"Wes," Xander whispered.

Wesley leaned in to hear what Xander was saying.

"I told you what I'd do to you if you let her get hurt," Xander replied, his strong arms finding their way around the Watcher's neck.

Wesley, shocked by both Xander's recovery and the threat to his life, was unable to dislodge the hands from his throat.

"Hey Xand…" Dawn started as she came into his room. When she saw Xander standing and choking Wesley, she dropped the hot chocolate and screamed.

Cordelia, following behind, ran to Xander and slammed into him to keep him from killing Wesley. The Englishman gasped for breath and crawled backwards as Cordy and Dawn restrained their friend.

"What the hell happened," Cordelia demanded.

"Wes almost got Faith killed," Xander spat.

"And you being all mobile isn't something you thought you should mention?" Cordelia snarled.

"I had a couple of visitors who helped me out," Xander said as he began to calm down. "Why didn't you guys tell me what happened with Faith last night."

"Gosh, do you think we might have wanted to find out ourselves what the deal is before breaking the news to you?" Cordelia said.

"Sorry," Xander said, looking away guiltily.

"_I still got it,"_ Cordy said to herself.

"So, are you…" Dawn started.

"Almost good as new," Xander said with a smile.

"You really had us worried," Dawn said, burying her face in his chest.

"I'm sorry," Xander said, hugging her back. Cordelia joined the embrace.

"Okay," Xander said softly. "Now if you guys will just let go, I can finish killing Wesley and we can go to lunch."

_That's all for now. Next up, love and war. If you have any thoughts about this bit, please share them with me - ml_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

_Thanks for catching up with this story. Sorry, it's been kind of hard for me to update recently, having some blocking issues. Anyway, here's a short bit to get things moving again. Hope it's okay_ - ml

Here's where we left things off last time

"You really had us worried," Dawn said, burying her face in his chest.

"I'm sorry," Xander said, hugging her back. Cordelia joined the embrace.

"Okay," Xander said softly. "Now if you guys will just step back, I can finish killing Wesley and we can go to lunch." He took a step towards the English Watcher.

Wesley blanched.

"Knock it off, Pirate Boy," Cordelia commanded.

"Cordy, he almost got Faith killed," Xander said as he turned to his ex-girlfriend.

"And if he was the first one of us who'd ever made a mistake, you'd be perfectly justified in beating him to a pulp," Cordelia replied icily.

There was no response to that, Xander knew it. With effort, he composed himself and said. "You're right. He turned to Wesley and said, "I'm sorry, Wes. I know you we're trying to do what you thought was right. Maybe when we've cooled down we can talk about this and see what we both can learn from it."

Wesley was still a little shaky after the close call with Xander. He was scarier than the Watcher's old instructor at the Academy, and in the Wesley world, that was saying something. "Yes, I think that you and I could meet with Giles and conduct a debriefing."

"Sure," Xander agreed. "I'd like Willow to be there, too. And Cordelia." He turned to his old friend. It's always useful to have someone around who's so skilled in diplomacy."

Dawn giggled as Cordelia stuck her tongue out at Xander.

----------

Faith woke up, her bruises from last night's fight mostly healed as was the splitting headache her overdose had left her with. She got out of bed and walked around her hospital room. There was nothing there, no television, books, anything. She guessed Willow probably would know if she walked out, but what was she supposed to do in an empty room?

Fortunately, Xander arrived soon after a few minutes. Startled to see him mobile, Faith almost ran to hug him, but she caught herself. He was still a guy, and with guys, there was always trouble once you let them know you cared.

"Hey," Xander said, "I hear you had a close call last night." Faith noticed that he was carrying a box.

"Yeah, I guess everybody knows that now," Faith said, sitting back on the bed.

"It'll be okay," Xander said softly. He walked towards her bed and extended the box towards her with a shy smile. "I brought you some stuff."

Faith was pretty sure that Xander was unaware of the meaning of that phrase. He really didn't look like a pusher to her. Still, you never know… She took the box anyway.

She pulled out a cassette player and a number of mix tapes, a copy of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road," and a harmonica. She looked up at the one-eyed Watcher.

"I thought you might be getting bored in here, so these are some things of mine that I thought you could use. I've got some comic books and a deck of cards if you want."

Faith smiled, "Thanks. But a harmonica?"

"I was in Africa for a while," Xander explained. "Kind of hard to drag along a tuba. When you're alone a lot, you need something to keep the sky from closing in around you."

"Don't you mean the walls?"

"Not where I was," Xander replied. "But that's another story. Anyway, I talked to Cordelia and Dawn, and they are both totally ready to help you spend Giles's money and buy some new clothes. I'm sorry about dragging you here without any of your stuff."

"You were kinda busy saving my life and getting shot," Faith allowed.

"There is that," Xander grinned. "Still, I know what it's like to be alone in a new place. When Sunnydale… Anyway, I had to leave home without anything once, and sometimes I miss things, you know, like pictures or my old shirts."

"Well, I didn't have any old pictures that I need to see again," Faith said. "I haven't had a lot of Kodak moments in my life so far."

"We'll have to change that," Xander said.

Faith could see the sincerity in his eyes. It freaked her out a little. "Could we find some food?" She asked.

Xander noted her unease and said, "Sure, let's go raid a kitchen. I think we're entitled."

As soon as they left the room, Willow came trotting down the hall. "Oh, hey Xander," Willow said, a little surprised.

"Hey," Xander replied. "We're in search of Slayer Chow. Wanna come?"

Willow's uncertainty was replaced by a wide smile. No matter how old they got, Xander still wanted to make sure she was included in things. She remembered the remark he'd made years ago about the two of them ending up in a rest home together. She looked over at Faith.

"So, you had a spell up to see if I left, huh?" Faith asked.

"Just a little one," Willow admitted. "I was gonna come by and see you anyway. I wanted to get some things together for you, you know a kind of Welcome to Slaying kinda basket."

"You and Harris think alike," Faith said, amused. "He just dropped off some stuff."

"Not the harmonica?" Willow said in a frightened voice.

"Yeah," Faith said. "Don't worry, I've always been able to find better uses for my mouth."

The faces of both Willow and Xander went blank as their minds took a trip to a similar visual place.

Faith snickered. "I meant eating, you perverts." (_Author's note: she didn't_).

----------

It was with no small bit of anxiety that Wesley entered Rupert Giles' office later that afternoon. He had just failed his first test and fully expected the Senior Watcher to transfer his assignment to Xander.

"Oh, Wesley," Giles said with a surprisingly warm smile (as far as Wesley was concerned). "I was hoping that you'd drop by. I wanted to speak with you for a moment, if I may."

"I understand completely," Wesley said. "I deeply apologize for the incident last night. It was my fault completely and…"

"Would you please stop," Giles said, gently. "Wesley, I have every confidence in you. You were first in your class and I have no doubt that you will become a fine Watcher with time. We can never reach our potential unless we make mistakes and learn from them. However, I noticed on your online report of last night's activities that Faith mentioned the two vampires fought with each other."

"Yes," Wesley said, feeling a bit unsteady. This wasn't at all how he expected this conversation to go. Still, he did understand the importance of Faith's statement. "She said that the vampires were so anxious to kill her that they interfered with each other, and one beheaded the other. While I know this is at the very least atypical behavior, I spoke with her at length about this and I'm certain she is telling the truth."

"Yes, she had no reason to lie about that," Giles agreed. "I'd like to send a patrol out tonight to see if there's anything else we can find out about the area. Maybe there is an influence at work."

"What kind of influence?" Wesley asked.

"I have information that we may be dealing with an entity much like the First Evil. It is called War, the red horseman, and various other unpleasant appellations. If possible, I'd like your help with research."

"You want to send Faith on patrol without me?" Wesley asked, afraid this was the first step in losing his Slayer.

"Certainly not," Giles replied. "I think we'll need to work with Faith before she's ready to patrol effectively. I was thinking of sending Willow and Oz. Willow would be able to sense any magical influences and Oz is more than satisfactory as a combatant if it comes to that."

"G-man," Xander called out brightly as he entered the office. "You wanted me on book duty tonight?"

"Yes, and you agreed not to call me that infernal name between the hours of 9 and 5," Giles answered pointing to a large grandfather clock on his wall that clearly indicated 4:55.

"Your clock is slow," Xander replied holding out his cell phone which read, also very plainly, 5:01.

Wesley followed the banter between the two old friends.

"My clock is, and always shall be, the final arbiter of the time in my office," Giles said with mock exasperation.

"Then wind it," Xander said with a smile. "Willow got your message and is going to find Oz. Dawn and Cordie are letting Faith try on some of their clothes. Tomorrow they'll take Faith shopping for girl things."

"I shall immediately inform our treasurer to sell off the appropriate amount of stock," Giles fretted.

"Well, if we have her running around naked, the neighbors will talk," Xander said.

"Or selling tickets and binoculars," Wesley couldn't help from blurting out.

"Another country heard from," Xander said with a smile. "I could see that happening. So, fearless leader, anything from Buffy and company?"

Giles smile faded. "It appears that Kakistos has obtained a significant number of minions in the Boston area. There was an encounter yesterday with a particularly venomous creature called Mr. Trick. Spike was able to defeat him, but it was a fierce battle and Buffy will need a few days to be at full capacity again."

"Should I assemble the Scoobies?" Xander asked.

"I'm afraid not, at present. We need to research the threat mentioned by Bella and Verity. Perhaps once we understand more about it…"

"Okay, I get it," Xander said. "Come on Wes, it's book time."

----------

Willow and Oz walked to the cemetery shortly after dark. Willow was extending her senses, trying to find any strange influences. Oz was, surprisingly enough, strangely quiet.

"What's up?" Willow finally asked.

"Not much," Oz replied, a little too quickly.

Willow stopped walking and raised her eyebrow at her former boyfriend.

Oz began to look really uncomfortable. "Okay, I've kind of started going out with Cordelia."

Willow's face fell. She wasn't upset because she still wanted to be with Oz….Well, that wasn't the only reason, anyway. Why did it have to be…"You're seeing Cordelia?" She finally asked, wanting to be certain what she had heard.

"Yeah. I mean, she's different now, she…"

"You're seeing Cordelia?" Willow asked again, disbelief evident in her voice.

"Come on Willow, you know that she's not the person we knew in high school. We should be able to get beyond that. After all you've gone through…"

"I so don't need to go there," Willow said, cutting him off and resuming her walk towards the cemetery.

"Willow," Oz called out.

Willow just wanted to get away for a minute to gather herself. Distracted, she failed to notice the red mist that spilled out over the cemetery gate.

"Go away," Willow yelled back, her anger building at a furious pace. She picked magically picked up a stone and threw it at Oz.

"Dammit Willow, stop running," Oz said, beginning to lose his temper as well. He tossed a fallen tree branch at her.

Willow used her power to deflect the branch. "If you want to tell somebody what to do, go find your girlfriend," Willow warned as she gathered energy into herself.

Oz stopped, enraged that Willow would threaten him. He allowed his inner wolf to emerge. His snout lengthened and fur broke out over his body.

Willow used her power to pick up the werewolf and toss him against the stone wall of the cemetery. "Did you really think I'd let you get close enough to hurt me," she taunted, her eyes black.

Oz was stunned by the force of his impact against the stone.

Willow lifted a loose stone to hurl at the guitarist. That was when she noticed the red mist surrounding them. Once Oz became unconscious, it all started flowing towards the wiccan.

Willow realized that her emotions were totally out of proportion with what had happened. She tried to use the techniques she had learned in Devon to help her regain control, but for some reason her feelings couldn't be contained. She focused her mind and sent energy towards the Watcher's compound.

Oz was still immobile and Willow was about to lose it completely. Whatever the red mist was, it was impossible for Willow to resist at this point. She fell back into the only option she had left. The coven in Devon had taught her this as a last resort in case she ever felt dark magics possessing her again. She reached into a pocket in her jacket and pulled out an enchanted stone. "Retreat," she whispered. With that command, her consciousness mind was walled off and she fell to the earth.

The mist retreated from her and settled over Oz.

Xander was researching with Giles and Wesley when suddenly he screamed an pawed at the necklace Willow had given him. It was burning him!

"What the Devil!" Wesley cried, startled.

Xander managed to take the necklace off, burning one hand in the process. "It's Willow's necklace. I think she's in trouble"

Giles picked up his phone and called Cordelia. "Cordelia," he said when she answered. "We need to assemble in the weapons room. It appears something has happened to Willow and Oz."

The Watcher had no way of knowing how painful this information was to the brunette beauty. Still, she had years of experience in this kind of thing, so she quickly regained control of her emotions. "I'm with Dawn and Faith. Should they come to?"

Giles considered. He knew that it would be dangerous to expose Faith to too much before she was trained, but they may need every fighter they could get. "Yes, could use their help."

Wesley helped Xander put something on his burned neck and hand. The Scoobies met in the weapons room. Wesley, Giles, and Xander grabbed swords, Cordelia took a staff, and Dawn selected daggers. Xander gave Faith a stake and a short sword.

"What's burned?" Faith asked, her Slayer senses catching the faint smell.

"That would be me," Xander replied. "That's how we know something's happened."

Dawn and Cordelia shrank back from Xander.

They got to the cemetery as fast as they could. They saw Willow by the gate of the cemetery. Xander hurried to his oldest friend, but he couldn't wake her up. There were no apparent injuries to the redhead.

A huge, hairy form suddenly broke through the cemetery wall. It had a snout like a dog, but its fangs were at least six inches long. It was taller than Giles and Xander and although it stood like a man its hunched gait most closely resembled a bear's.

"What the hell is that?" Cordelia asked.

"I think it's your boyfriend," Dawn replied, noticing the torn remnants of a sweatshirt around the creature's neck.

"Boyfriend!" Four voices shrieked.

_That's all for now. Hope to update soon. Please review!_ ml


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